Utensils of the Brazen Altar

I'm just going to touch on these utensils and the reference here is found in Ex. 27:3 , "You shall make pots, for it to receive it's ashes, and shovels and basins and forks and firepans; you shall make all it's utensils of bronze." Notice everything made of metal outside the tabernacle in the outer court was made of bronze, while inside at the Holy Place and in the Holy of Holies all the metal was gold. We said that gold represents or signifies Diety and bronze or what was probably copper(I'll explain that in a bit) represents or signifies judgement. According to Dr. Ness, the metal that was used was really copper and not bronze or brass either(there is a difference)but rather it was copper for the following reasons:

1. Brass is not a pure metal but a mixture of metals; God said not to mix things...Deut. 22:9-11.

2.Brass can't take the heat that copper can; it will crumble; the fire of the Altar never ceased.

3. There is no record that brass was used at the time of the exodus; copper was widely used.

4. The copper of which the censers were made became a part of the Altar as a record of God's judgement...Numbers 16:36-40.

I have looked up several Bible dictionaries and concordances and discovered that brass is not the correct term used here but copper . Brass is an alloy of copper, when you mix copper and zinc in proper proportion you get brass or bronze which is another alloy of copper. The term brazen in the Bible for the most part indicates copper. Brass was not invented until the thirteenth century and our Bibles as being translated from original manuscripts came later. So brass being well known by then became the common term for these utensils.

If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen and brass can't take the heat that copper can. So where we refer to brass in this context we are really referring to copper and brass always infers judgement and we see here in the Brazen Altar the typology of Jesus bearing our judgement on the cross. He did it willingly and joyfully. 2 Cor. 5:21, "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who(speaking of Jesus)knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." This Altar would have glowed copper red from the heat that was continuous, and speaks of God's righteousness and judgement. He has to judge sin because He is God. But through His sacrifice today there is pardon for guilt. As the old hymn reads.."pardon for sin and a peace that endureth. When we confess our sins and forsake it, there is an abiding peace that truly endures.There is no forgiveness apart from Him and good works in themselves will not cut it, it is only by coming to the Brazen Altar and casting ourselves upon His mercy that we can be forgiven.

So a brief mention of the utensils says that they also were copper(where it says brass it is really copper). First I would draw your attention to the pans and shovels that was named in our text. Exodus 27:3 we read earlier says "And you shall make its pans to receive its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze(meaning copper).The pans and shovels are evidence that judgement has taken place and the ashes mean that a full sacrifice has been accomplished and how true it is of Christ Jesus sacrifice on the Cross. The ashes indicate that the sacrifice has been accepted and certainly that is the case with Calvary's sacrifice. It is a complete sacrifice and God has accepted this sacrifice,once, for all time.( The KJV and NKJV uses the term pans while the NRSV calls them pots.)

Next on the list were the basins and these also were made of copper. The purpose of the basins was to contain the blood from the sacrifice: evidence that life had gone forth; innocent for guilty as a type of the sacrifice on Calvary.

The flesh hooks were a three pronged hook made of copper and appears to be for the purpose of moving the sacrifice around for complete consumption as the priests also partook of it and today we partake of Him. He said "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood HAS ETERNAL LIFE"...read the portion from John chapter 6 verses 47-59.

The next item or utensil is the fire pan(s)...made from copper also, they were used to transport the fire from the Brazen Altar to the Altar of Incense. God lit the fire at the Brazen Altar, but it was carried to the Altar of Incense by the priests. When God lights a fire in us at the Brazen Altar, our prayers will be set ablaze as we approach the Altar of Incense and offer up our sacrifices unto Him. It is the kind of prayer He wants to hear from our lips and coming from our hearts...impassioned, burning in our souls, living, breathing persistent prayer. Then we will see the hand of God move in our lives and in our assemblies and we will see revival start in our midst. The next thing I want to talk about is the fire and the wood, but I am going to leave it for our next lesson.